Matchup Overview
The New Jersey Devils aim to build on a very emotional win last night against the Golden Knights as they head to Nashville. The road woes for the Devils have been very costly so far this season (3-11-2), and it won’t get any easier taking on a rested Nashville team with a great home record (13-5-0). The Devils will have to be on their game early if they look to keep this one competitive.
Keys to the game
Survive the opening minutes… Too often this year, the Devils find themselves trailing after the first five minutes, which is a trend that cannot continue if they look to build any type of sustainable success. That means the goaltender (presumably Keith Kinkaid) will need to be sharp from the start and may even have to bail his defense out.
Take advantage of injuries… Nashville managed to pull out an overtime victory in Newark the last time these teams met. But their lineup will be missing some key pieces tonight. P.K. Subban remains on IR, and Viktor Arvidsson will continue to miss time with a broken thumb. The Devils will be without Hall, so each team is missing a key piece. But if ever there was a time to catch Nashville off guard, now seems to be it.
Projected Lines
New Jersey
Marcus Johannson – Nico Hischier – Kyle Palmieri
John Quenneville – Pavel Zacha – Jesper Bratt
Blake Coleman – Travis Zajac – Miles Wood
Brian Boyle – Brett Seney – Drew Stafford
Andy Greene – Damon Severson
Will Butcher – Sami Vatanen
Mirco Mueller – Ben Lovejoy
Keith Kinkaid
Nashville
Ryan Hartman – Ryan Johansen – Kevin Fiala
Calle Jarnkrok – Kyle Turris – Craig Smith
Colton Sissons – Nick Bonino – Austin Watson
Miika Salomaki – Frederik Gaudreau – Zac Rinaldo
Roman Josi – Ryan Ellis
Dan Hamhuis – Mattias Ekholm
Matt Irwin – Yannick Weber
Juuse Saros
Players to Watch
John Quenneville… in his first game back with the big club, Quenneville logged just under 12 minutes of ice time, including a minute on the power play. The line of Quenneville (74.1% Corsi For), Zacha (73.9% CF), and Bratt (82.6% CF) dominated the possession metrics last night and just missed on a few great chances. Expect to see them buzzing again tonight, and maybe they can put up some depth points.
The New Jersey Devils are 5-0-1 with John Quenneville in the lineup in 2018-19
Kevin Fiala… Due to some moving pieces and key players missing time, Fiala has seen a bump in his ice time. Playing alongside Ryan Johansen (5 goals, 21 assists), he is sure to see some quality chances and receives some grade A setup passes.
Where to Watch
Bridgestone Arena 8:00 pm
MSG
FS-TN
Betting Lines (all betting info taken from Draftkings Sportsbook)
New Jersey +1.5 goal spread, +160 money line
Nashville -1.5 goal spread, -195 money line
Over/Under 6 goals
Statement Games
We are playing tonight’s game on StatementGames.com and you should too! Here are our two lock statements to get you started:
Total goals over 5.5
Will Butcher + Damon Severson OVER 0.5 combined points.
Prediction
Coming off of such an emotional overtime win, it can be easy to see a let down coming. The Devils, however, are catching Nashville at the right time, with some of their big guns missing from the lineup and should be looking to avenge their overtime loss to Nashville earlier this season. The Devils squeak this one out 4-3 and actually win a game on the road.